Telephone bell and connection



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1` D. ERICE.

TELEPHONE BELL ANDYGONNEGTIGN.

No. 425,631. Pate'ntedApryl, 1890.

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TELEPHONE BBLLAND GONNHGTION. No. 425,631. L Patented Apr. 1 5, 1890.

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e, c, c, y 1 f I .11 .11 @Vf N' N NN UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID HALL RICE, OE LOIVELL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE CURRIERTELEPHONE BELL COMPANY, OE MASSACHUSETTS.

TELEPHONE BELL AN D CONN ECTION.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 425,631, dated April15, 1890.

Application filed November 16, 1881. Serial No. 45,957. (No model.)

To @ZZ wwm, it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID HALL RICE, of Lowell, in the county ofMiddlesex an'd State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in 'Systems of Telephone Bells and Connections, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My improvement relates to the connection of the electric callingmechanism patented to Io Jacob B. Currier, August 30,1881, No. 246,374,with a telephone system; and it consists in 4connecting the same at thecalling-station with the electro-magnetic annunciators and telephonecommonly used there, so as to obviate all interference of said Curriermechanism with such other instruments, and at the same time to enable meto apportion or graduate the electric force to each circuit as it isneeded7 thus enabling me to apply more bells zo upon each circuit andprevent an excess of such electric force on any one of a number ofcircuits from being used.

It is found that when the Currier calling mechanism is used upon severalcircuits they 2 5 will greatly vary in their natural tension orresistance to the electric current from causes which cannot beascertained,' and one circuit will thus require a battery power andelectric force to properly ring a given number of bells 3o upon it whichwould be excessive for another circuit of a like number of bells andinterfere with their perfect working. It also happens that some circuitshave an unequal number of bells ou them, when the same effect ensues 3 5to a certain extent. Ihave already made application for Letters Patentfor one means of obviating this dificulty; but in that instance thevibrating electric current produced by the Currier calling device workedthrough the 4o electro-magnetic annunciator or call-bell magnet in thecallin g-ofice, and was inconvenient in that respect, because it createdan alarm in the central office as well as at the subscribers station.

My present improvement overcomes this diiculty by a modified arrangementof the switch and its connection with the several operative mechanisms,as hereinafter described.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of 5o the central-officeapparatus for one forml of my improvement. Fig. 2 is a perspective Viewof the switch-board with the several circuits connected thereto in planview.

A is the switch. It consistsof a wooden or other non-conducting materialin the form of 5 5 a board, through which small holes c c are bored. Onthe face of board a are secured metal pieces b, h', and b2 on oppositesides of the holes c, which are hollowed out on the edges to conformsubstantially to the shape 6o of the holes where they abut upon them.Into these holes metal pins are iitted closely, and when inserted intoany hole one of these pins forms an electric connection between theplates h b', &c., which it thus touches. 65

C are the outgoing circuits, upon which are the subscribers stations,provided with bells, as shown in said Currier patent, and also providedwith telephones and magneto apparatus 0f any common construction forringing a 7o bell or dropping` a signal-button at the central ofce tocall the same. One of these magneto appliances is shown at M, Fig. 2,with its switch m for putting lit into and out of circuit; but I haveomitted them from the other stations, as their construction andconnection are the same and will be readily understood from the oneshown.

Each of the wires C passes to and connects with one of the switch-platesb. From the 8o metal switch-plates b lead a series of wires CZ d to theCurrier calling device and battery B. The several wires CZ lead iirst tothe caller, and Wire d leads through the battery B to the ground. Inthis case the electric force is properly graduated to each circuit bymeans of a rheostat E, mof ordinary construction, placed upon the lineCZ d between the switch and the caller D. These rheostats may also beused in a similar position upon the wires 9o (l d when attached directlyto the wire d', instead of through the caller, and will be found usefulto correct any sudden changes in the tension of the circuits, or eitherof them, which arise from local or other causes. From the metalswitch-plates h2 run lines n n, upon which, at m m, are placed the or-`dinary electrocnagn etic annunciators or bells, and the lines 'n nterminate in a common ground-line 0, upon which the telephone is Icoplaced at T. Upon the circuits C C, which terminatein grounds G, areplaced the several Currier bells at the different stations C' C2, die.As each of the circuits has a different number of stations and bells,the rheostats E are graduated with resistance to correspond, so that thesame electromotive force shall be eXer cised upon any one bell. Themagnets of the several bells are of substantially the same resistance.This construction and arrangement of parts differs from those of myformer application in having a double series of insulated lines d d andn n run from the switch to separate grounds, the former seriesconnecting the battery and caller and the latter series theelectro-magnetic annunciator and telephone. I am thus enabled tograduate the battery-power used in Working the calling-in` strument toeach circuit independently of the others, and at the same time avoidpassing this electric current through the electro-magnetic annunciator-magnets and the telephon c.

The switch mechanism is operated as follows: The metal pins are placedin the holes c between the metal switch-plates b and b2, and thecircuits are ready for use by the subscriber in signaling the centraloiice or telephonng to it. If. it is desired to call a sub scriber atthe central oiiice, the pin is taken from the hole c and placed in itscorresponding hole c, thus connecting the caller and battery with thecircuit by one of the independent wires d, and insuring the use of theproper electric current to work it t0 the best advantage. Theelectro-magnetic annunciator m is cut out of circuit-by the shifting ofthe pin, as described.

What I claim as new and of my invention 1s l. The combination of two ormore electric circuits, a switch mechanism, the caller D, connected tosaid switch mechanism by two independent or branch Wires and adapted tosend a succession of electric impulses over the circuits, the batter andthe electro-magnetic annunciators fm m, connected to the switchmechanism by independent wires n n, all constructed and arrangedsubstantially as described.

2. In combination with the grounded wire d', the. electric battery B,the caller D, adapted to produce a regular intermittent electriccurrent, the Wired, the switch mechanism b b Z22, the circuit-wire C,and the grounded wire' fn', and drop button or annunciator m,substantially as described.

3. In combination with the switch apparatus A and the caller D andbattery, the independent wires d d and rheostat E E, substantially asdescribed.

4.-. The combination of the battery B, the grounded Wire d', the callerD, the wired, the switch mechanism D b b2, the circuit-wire C,

Aand the ground-wire n and telephone T, substantially as described.

DAVID HALL RICE.

Witnesses:

GEO, H. WHITE, N. P. OCKINGTON.

